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The downsized house I will eventually buy will be less than half of the cost of the house I am selling. In a down market you would think I would not be able to recover my losses on selling low. That may not actually be the case. I am selling in an area with a modest decline in housing costs but will probably buy in an area with a major decrease.
Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss, some high cost areas have started to turn around especially in the DC area.
if you retire during the recession and base your withdrawls on your portfolio value then and you can still retire, then it can only get better as time goes on....
It is easier to retire in a recession if you don't need to touch your portfolio thats was a big factor for us.
It is easier to retire in a recession if you don't need to touch your portfolio thats was a big factor for us.
Thats all well and good , if you are so lucky. Many have had to downsize to the point that retiring does not look very good.... Also , sometimes one spouse may have to find a job , to make ends meet. Its not all good....and then even worse , some have health problems , so maybe retiring for some is not an option these days, its a forced decision due to age , and job downsizing.
I just wanted to give the other side of the coin. In a recession no one wins.
i think more damage is done when folks retire when we arent in a recession unless they were forced into it but then they really werent ready anyway to retire and so this thread wouldnt really pertain to them. job loss,health and age forcing someone to retire when they arent prepared is always a disaster no matter when it is.
although the benefit to them is costs and expenses dont escalate as fast as they normally would perhaps giving them a chance to regroup and plan a strategy while burning less money doing so.
i think those that got it the worst in the "prepared group" were those that retired in early 2,000 and are on the the YOYO plan,your on your own...no pension .no paid medical....
they had planned their retirements around inflation adjusted safe withdrawl rates and thought they had more then enough.
a decade of low or no returns from the markets and cash instuments will leave those folks broke in less then the next 8 years as they already spent down 3/4 of their savings over the last 11 years unless markets really take off.
these are folks who were ready and prepared to retire and thought they had everything covered., afterall ,the retirement calculators said no problem ,you have enough money to last a lifetime.
that may have been true in the past but like driving and looking thru the rearview mirror things dont always work like the past.
those retireing now if they can afford to do so will probley be okay as its rare for markets to go 15 years with out substantial gains and we already ran thru 11 of them.
if the numbers work at the lows they will work even better when the portfolios get uplifted again..
we got a great deal during the downturn on our eventual retirement home as well... that nice lower price was a big bonus to the recession. the difference we saved had we boought earlier actually surpassed the pay cuts we took at work.
since in nyc we rent the drop in values only helped us ,both by keeping rents down and by not having a home that dropped in value here since i sold it 7 years ago so the savings on the new home was a plus for us all around.
Last edited by mathjak107; 08-12-2010 at 04:32 AM..
Thats all well and good , if you are so lucky. Many have had to downsize to the point that retiring does not look very good.... Also , sometimes one spouse may have to find a job , to make ends meet. Its not all good....and then even worse , some have health problems , so maybe retiring for some is not an option these days, its a forced decision due to age , and job downsizing.
I just wanted to give the other side of the coin. In a recession no one wins.
My OP was the other side of the coin. There has been much discussion about the other side and little about the up side. Yes while many were not so luck some were and that was the point. It is not all a lose/lose and some did win big time.
i think more damage is done when folks retire when we arent in a recession unless they were forced into it but then they really werent ready anyway to retire and so this thread wouldnt really pertain to them. job loss,health and age forcing someone to retire when they arent prepared is always a disaster no matter when it is.
although the benefit to them is costs and expenses dont escalate as fast as they normally would perhaps giving them a chance to regroup and plan a strategy while burning less money doing so.
i think those that got it the worst in the "prepared group" were those that retired in early 2,000 and are on the the YOYO plan,your on your own...no pension .no paid medical....
they had planned their retirements around inflation adjusted safe withdrawl rates and thought they had more then enough.
a decade of low or no returns from the markets and cash instuments will leave those folks broke in less then the next 8 years as they already spent down 3/4 of their savings over the last 11 years unless markets really take off.
these are folks who were ready and prepared to retire and thought they had everything covered., afterall ,the retirement calculators said no problem ,you have enough money to last a lifetime.
that may have been true in the past but like driving and looking thru the rearview mirror things dont always work like the past.
those retireing now if they can afford to do so will probley be okay as its rare for markets to go 15 years with out substantial gains and we already ran thru 11 of them.
if the numbers work at the lows they will work even better when the portfolios get uplifted again..
we got a great deal during the downturn on our eventual retirement home as well... that nice lower price was a big bonus to the recession. the difference we saved had we boought earlier actually surpassed the pay cuts we took at work.
since in nyc we rent the drop in values only helped us ,both by keeping rents down and by not having a home that dropped in value here since i sold it 7 years ago so the savings on the new home was a plus for us all around.
very accurate on those it has worked for and those who it has been a negative for.
forums follow along the lines of when you get a product or service you dont like you may tell 5 friends but if your happy maybe 1 will know.
most of the time the stories on the financial related forums tend to be hardluck stories, negative outlooks or just plain complaining about things.
i guess there are many the glass is half empty folks that like to post out there , more then the glass is half full folks but thats human nature.
we tend not to start threads about our happy stuff on these forums.
most of the time folks shy away from talking about the good stuff that happens unless they really feel prompted.. this is true about not just this thread but just over all. someone planned poorly so the markets are to blame.....
2 back to back recessions and the markets went down so they are casinos and rigged...
the list is endless.... we just dont see the happy folks starting threads about how happy they are the way things turned out for them.
could it have been better for you ? sure .... it could have been better for me too, but im happy for the good things i was able to make happen by planning, luck and learning.
its like alians landing in a hospital and reporting back everyone on earth is sick. after a while you notice post after post thats started is about a negative most of the time....
Last edited by mathjak107; 08-12-2010 at 06:48 AM..
Sorry , but sugar coating everything is putting forth a false narrative. We as a nation and a world , are going through the worst times since the Great Depression. Its not great times for anyone, working and retired . Just telling how you beat the system during may give some hope for the masses , but in reality it falls on deaf ears....when you see the numbers and listen to the economic news.
I do see some light at the end of the tunnel , and hopefully its not a train. as of late business is starting to buy , invest in machinery to produce products, thats where my retirement comes from . Our industry is always ( in the past ) , the one that comes back first , so we will see..... There are a lot of us recently retired that depend on current economic ups and down to survive, we are not all invested in bulletproof securities.... I am standing buy with cautious optimision....waiting.
forums follow along the lines of when you get a product or service you dont like you may tell 5 friends but if your happy maybe 1 will know.
most of the time the stories on the financial related forums tend to be hardluck stories, negative outlooks or just plain complaining about things.
i guess there are many the glass is half empty folks that like to post out there , more then the glass is half full folks but thats human nature.
we tend not to start threads about our happy stuff on these forums.
most of the time folks shy away from talking about the good stuff that happens unless they really feel prompted.. this is true about not just this thread but just over all. someone planned poorly so the markets are to blame.....
2 back to back recessions and the markets went down so they are casinos and rigged...
the list is endless.... we just dont see the happy folks starting threads about how happy they are the way things turned out for them.
could it have been better for you ? sure .... it could have been better for me too, but im happy for the good things i was able to make happen by planning, luck and learning.
its like alians landing in a hospital and reporting back everyone on earth is sick. after a while you notice post after post thats started is about a negative most of the time....
Many seniors are on a fixed income and that means not subject to change by much up or down. I know there are some who hate folks with pensions but they are a reality and they tend to be fixed. If your income remains the same during hyper inflation you are in trouble and if your income remains the same when prices are falling you are ahead of the curve. The main thing for many of us is rising health care cost. For the most part other things are either cheaper or stable. The down turn in housing as afforded us a number of buying opportunities for second and third homes that we might not otherwise had. Again as you and I have discussed the Money Magazine retirement has perhaps become more affordable.
Many income investments got crushed in the 2007-2009 market crash--high yield bonds with double digit interest, dividend-paying stocks with yields three times higher than CD's, etc. Some new retirees got all the income they needed even though 401(K) rollover balances were sharply lower. Now they have the income, and large gains.
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Another benefit of retiring in a recession
